Mohammed Zeeshan Ayyub wed Rasika Agashe back in 2007. The pair tends to shield their private world from public eyes, yet the actor lately revealed the hurdles they navigated at the time of their union owing to differing faiths.
Meeting at NSD
During his appearance on The Sheroes TV, Zeeshan opened up about his romance with Rasika, explaining, “She and I met in NSD. She was my senior because she had cleared the entrance exam in first attempt, whereas I did so in my second attempt.” He reminisced about their instant rapport at NSD, drawn to each other’s unique outlooks. Yet their initial outing turned awkward—Rasika made the trip to Mumbai for the holidays, only for Zeeshan to show up an hour late, confessing, “On our first date when she came to meet me in Mumbai, I was one hour late.”
From friendship to commitment
Despite initial hiccups, Ayyub’s appeal melted Rasika’s reservations, paving the way for their union. He explained, “We became such good friends that we thought that we should get married. We love spending time with each other, and we got married in this phase of our relationship and nobody proposed to anyone. We just took our friendship forward.” Family opposition arose over their interfaith match, so they bolted to Goa to dodge the uproar. Zeeshan revealed, “The marriage had its own difficulties because it was a Hindu-Muslim marriage. To escape them, we ran to Goa for four days, and we decided not to speak to either of the families. We enjoyed those four days in Goa.”
Families relent and wedding happens
Following their bold stand, Zeeshan and Rasika won over their families’ approval. He recounted, “We came back from Goa in September and got married. Luckily, both side of parents came to the wedding. So that 1-2 month period had a lot of to and fro that how will things be managed because these are two different religions.” He added, “We were very clear that we will get married under the Special Marriage Act. We don’t want religious interference in our marriage. We both can do whatever we want. If I want to live as a Muslim, then I won’t pressure Rasika and if she wants to live as a Hindu, she doesn’t have the pressure to abide by Muslim laws.”
